Mickey Z

Cool Observer

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Thursday, July 06, 2006

Don't fry for me, Argentina

(Since my Veg News column is not available on line, I’m posting my latest here for your perusal.)

Faced with runaway inflation (over 12% as of late March 2006), Argentine president Nestor Kirchner dared to suggest his loyal subjects adopt a voluntary reduction in beef consumption. This unorthodox proposal gave Monte Reel of the Washington Post the ideal opening for a pro-beef salvo called “In Argentina, They’ve Got a Beef.” Subtitled, “Many Incredulous at Call to Eat Less Meat in Bid to Curb Inflation,” Reel’s article reads like a press release for the cattle-slaughter industry.

First off comes a quote from Argentine Guillermo Ugartemendia who calls the initiative “unthinkable” and “not a viable option,” as he polishes off “a rack of ribs at a steakhouse.”

“Asking Argentines to slow their beef consumption … is like asking Italians to say no to pasta, Parisians to skip wine, or the Chinese to eat less rice,” adds Reel before explaining that the people of this South American nation consume about 140 pounds a year per person of beef. That’s roughly 50 percent more than your average American…and tops in the world. To illustrate his beef with the less-beef idea, Reel waxes poetic: “A juicy slab of marbled steak is more than a meal for many of Argentina’s 39 million citizens; it’s part of their national identity.”

(To read the complete column, please click on “more” below.)